Badge printing
You can print a badgeThe credential a ticket-holder receives at check-in, used to identify them at your event. A badge can be a printed card, a sticker, a wristband, or another format you choose. The "badge name" is the name shown on it. for each attendee at check-in, or print badges in advance. This page covers how printing is set up. The design of the badge itself lives in a badge templateThe design used to produce a badge: what appears on it and where, for a given kind of ticket. Badge templates are set up separately; check-in uses them to print the right badge for each attendee.. See Badge templates.
Before you start
Section titled “Before you start”You need:
- A badge template for the badge design.
- A desk with an enabled badge printer, unless you are only pre-printing badges in advance. See Terminals and peripherals.
Ways to produce badges
Section titled “Ways to produce badges”There are three common approaches, and you can combine them:
- Pre-printed. Badges printed ahead of time and handed out at the desk.
- Auto-printed at check-in. A badge prints as each attendee is checked in.
- Printed on demand. The operator prints a badge from the desk when needed.
Whichever approach you use, if you print a barcode or QR code on the badge, an operator can scan it at handover to confirm the right badge went to the right person. That check is most useful with pre-printed badges, where attendees with similar names are easy to mix up.
Set the print mode and target
Section titled “Set the print mode and target”On the station profile’s Hardware tab, the Badge Printing settings control printing for that desk:
- Badge print mode. None, auto on check-in, or manual only.
- Badge print target. None, the desk’s local device, a specific device, or selected by the operator at sign-in.
Set whether badges print automatically and which printer they go to.
Share one or more printers across multiple desks
Section titled “Share one or more printers across multiple desks”A printer belongs to one terminal (or a print server); other desks reach it by pointing at that terminal. To let several desks share one or more printers, set the badge print target to “selected by operator” with a list of candidate printers, so each operator picks which shared printer their desk uses when they sign in.
Auto-print at the desk vs printing from a queue
Section titled “Auto-print at the desk vs printing from a queue”There are two different moments a badge can print. Pick the one that matches how you run the event:
- On demand at check-in. The badge prints at the desk as the attendee is checked in (or when the operator asks for it). This is the usual choice: the badge is produced when the person arrives. Set this on the station profile.
- In advance from a queue. A queueA named group that tickets are placed in so you can direct people to the right check-in desk, for example General, Priority, or Escalation. A queue is a label and a grouping, not a physical line: you decide which tickets go in it and which desks work from it. A ticket can be moved between queues by a rule or by an operator. badge auto-print rule prints to one fixed printer when a ticket enters the queue, before the attendee arrives. This matches a pre-printed flow, and is useful when registration is still open during the event: for example, day passes bought on the day are printed as each one is confirmed, ready to hand over. See Check-in queues.